


Tinker, Tenor, Neighbor, Skye

by agent85



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Apartment AU, Cats, F/M, Fluff, Meet-Cute, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 15:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4751213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agent85/pseuds/agent85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Apartment AU. Jemma is having the worst morning of her life until a stray cat shows up at her door, prompting her to return it to its owner—the downstairs neighbor she’s had a crush on for months.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tinker, Tenor, Neighbor, Skye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lavendergaia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavendergaia/gifts).



> Dear Kelly, our darling lavendergaia! We (me, agent-85 and fitzsimmonsy) wanted to wish you the happiest of birthdays! Here is a little gift from the three of us! A lovely fic from agent-85, a gifset from Maggie, and drawing from me! <3 We tried to make this as cute and fluffy as you are. 
> 
> We love you a lot and we think that you’re an amazing friend, writer and part of this fandom. We don’t know what we’d do without you, and we’re so glad that you are a part of our lives.
> 
> We love you! Happy Birthday Kelly! <3

 

If you asked Jemma, she would probably say that it was her father’s penchant for Puccini that brought them all together. Skye, on the other hand, would blame the skeevy super. Trip, of course, would give the credit to his uncommonly good looks, but Fitz would simply shake his head and point at Quake.

And Quake, to her credit, would lick her paws in a gesture of noble humility.

* * *

Jemma was not the sort of person who had bad mornings. In fact, she had expected this morning to be uncommonly fantastic, as the latest issue of the _SciOps Monthly_ was on her doorstep promptly at six. She put it on the side table near her treadmill, where it was in plain view, but just out of reach, and found it was an excellent source of motivation for her morning workout.

These mornings were usually the best sort of mornings, where Jemma could peruse the happenings in the scientific community as she sipped her English Breakfast, but the moment she ripped open the plastic to reveal the front cover, her entire life fell apart.

Luckily, it only took about ten minutes for it to start falling back together.

* * *

Trip never had bad morning, either. But then, he rarely had mornings at all. And that’s why, at precisely 7:12 AM, Fitz was the one who opened the door to a sobbing Simmons with a cat in her outstretched arms.

Fitz, of course, had never had a good morning in his life, and thought that waking up to a whimpering girl who shoved a furball into his face was about what he expected out of a Tuesday.

“I found your cat,” Jemma sobbed, and Fitz was not sure why this would be such tragic news. “She was trying to eat my journal, but there’s nothing toxic in it. She’s fine.”

Fitz tried to mumble something like _good_ or _thank you_ , and ended up saying, “Good, you.”

And when Jemma asked him what he meant, he mumbled something that even he couldn’t translate, grabbed the cat, and closed the door.

It took him a good fifteen minutes to realize that he’d never owned a cat in his life.

* * *

“No! Bad kitty! Down!”

Trip groaned, shifting over to look at the clock and cursing when he saw it wasn’t noon.

“No! No! You can’t just prance all over my pristine workspace!”

Fitz didn’t yell often, but Trip knew that if he started, he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. So, Trip got up and stumbled into the kitchen to find Fitz holding a broom in what was probably meant to be a very threatening manner.

“Fitz, what are you doing?”

“He’s trying to destroy my life, Trip. He’s a terror on four legs!”

“Fitz, he’s a cat.”

Fitz rolled his eyes at him. “I know he’s a cat. But he’s also the devil incarnate, meant to punish me for all my failings.”

Trip folded his arms.

“And what kinds of failings would those be?”

It was then that the cat leapt onto Fitz’s drafting table, and the broom came after it, sending a shower of papers to the floor. Fitz groaned and turned to Trip.

“I don’t recycle?”

Trip was about to say something about the importance of conserving natural resources when he was caught off by a sneeze, and became aware of the itching in his throat.

“Whose cat is that, man? We’ve gotta get him out of here.”

Fitz looked at Trip, then to the cat, then back at Trip.

“I haven’t a clue.”

Trip facepalmed. “Then how’d it get here?”

“Uh, I’m not sure. A crying girl just shoved him in my arms.”

Trip was trying to be an understanding guy, and he usually was, but it was difficult when a full sneezing fit hit him.

“We gotta get him out of here, Fitz.”

“What?”

And before Fitz could properly protest, Trip swept the cat up in his arms, deposited him into the hallway, and went in search of his allergy meds.

* * *

By this time, Jemma had stopped crying, but was still too distraught to close her front door all the way. And that’s how the cat found its way back into her apartment, jumping right into her lap and settling in with a contented purr. Jemma was too shocked to do anything about it at first, but she found the purring to be quite relaxing, and when she dared to stroke the soft, black fur, her troubles were suddenly miles away.

Jemma allowed herself a little selfishness, as her life had just fallen to pieces, and kept the cat for the rest of the morning. It was about lunchtime when Jemma considered the pros and cons of having an animal present as she prepared food. But, in the end, it was the rich, soothing vocals coming through the floorboards that tipped the balance, and Jemma decided it was time to return her new friend to her owner.

Now that she wasn’t in the throes of panic, hurt, and regret, she had to spend a good thirty seconds gathering the courage to knock before she finally rapped her knuckles on the door. This was, she reminded herself, _the_ apartment. How often had she fantasized about meeting the man who lived here? And, of course she _had_ met him, in less than ideal circumstances. This time, though, there was no redness in her eyes, or mascara on her cheeks, and she was actually having a fantastic hair day, all things considered. So, she knocked, hoping that she had a chance to make a second first impression.

“Oh! Hello,” he said, and she almost blushed when his blue eyes took her in. “Are you, are you alright? Do you need help, or . . .”

She’d expected him to be handsome, but had no idea that he would be adorable to boot. One thing she knew for sure, though, was that it had been a long while since someone had made her smile like that.

“No, thank you. And I’m sorry about earlier. I’d just gotten some bad news, but this little darling was a big help. I hope you don’t mind me borrowing her this morning.”

Fitz, for his part, was doing a very good job of keeping his jaw off of the floor. There stood the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and so far he hadn’t managed to ruin it.

“Um, sure, no problem,” he stammered. “You, uh, it must have been some pretty awful news.”

It was then that she gave him a small smile, just the slightest upturn of one corner of her mouth, and the next thing he knew, this woman was inside his house and drinking his tea. He decided right away that she was the most dangerous person he’d ever met, and that he didn’t mind at all.

“Oh, are these blueprints? Are they yours?”

There was a part of Fitz’s brain that insisted on stopping her, but as the other parts of his brain were barely functioning, nothing came of it. Instead, he watched helplessly as she rifled through his designs.

When she looked up at him, though, all thought of protest abandoned him.

“Hmm? Oh, yes. I, uh, I’m an inventor. Self-employed.”

He thought her small smiles were deadly, but when he watched her smile widen into an electric excitement, he almost stopped breathing.

“Fitz, these are amazing! Much better than anyone in my engineering department could come up with.” A cloud seemed to darken her features then, but she quickly recovered. “Anyway, I just can’t imagine how you had time to become such a talented engineer _and_ tenor!”

Jemma was almost sure that he was too good to be true. And he was such a gentleman—inviting her in, making her tea, showing her his designs. She’d been in despair this morning, but what a change! From perfect misery to perfect happiness! She thumbed through the blueprints and sighed, because work like this had a beauty all its own. She almost wondered if he was too perfect—and if he was, he’d have no use for her—when she noticed something that made her heart leap.

“What a clever delivery system! You know, with a few tweaks, I think it could work well with a crystalline nucleation process that I’m trying to perfect. Unless your partner is working on something similar?”

Fitz blinked at her, then cleared his throat. “Uh, I don’t . . . I don’t have one.”

“Oh! So you prefer to work alone, then?”

She watched as his mouth fell open, and he leaned against the kitchen counter in thought.

“Uh, well, no, not really.”

Jemma thought this was the best news she’d heard all day, and was just about to say so when there was a knock, and Fitz looked to the door, then back at her, then at the cat.

“Don’t worry; I’ve got it.”

It was then that a tall, dark, and clearly handsome man strode through the living room.

Fitz gulped at him. “That’s, uh, that’s my roommate.”

In other circumstances, Jemma might have inquired after the man. She was, of course, raised to be a polite person. But with things hanging in the balance, Jemma was far more interested in securing her future.

“I could work with you, you know. If you like. I’m a biochemist.”

It was then that Fitz’s eyes almost fell out of their sockets, and he was over at the drafting table without being sure how he got there.

Meanwhile, Trip opened the door to find a very similar circumstance to the one his roommate had encountered that morning. But instead of a sobbing mess, the woman on his doorstep might as well have had steam coming out of her ears.

“Hey, uh, sorry to bother you, or whatever, but have you seen this cat?”

Without further warning, she shoved her phone within three inches of Trip’s face, allowing him to see a picture of herself cradling what was clearly the same cat that had caused so much trouble (and sneezing) that morning. In fact, even seeing a picture of the cat seemed to make his eyes itch.

“Yeah, uh, I did. Not sure where it went though. Fitz?”

When he heard no answer, he had to poke his head around the open door and call his roommate’s name twice before Fitz looked up with a startled, “Yes?”

Trip gestured to the stranger. “She’s looking for her cat.” Then he turned back to her with a smile voted “most charming” in two separate high schools and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name. You are?”

And just as she told him her name was Skye, Fitz almost had a heart attack.

“He’s, uh, he’s right here,” he answered.

Jemma watched with eyebrows approaching her hairline as Trip invited Skye into the apartment.

“Oh, you’re awesome,” Skye muttered as she crossed the room. “You have no idea how terrible this morning has been. Yesterday morning, too. Well, all the mornings since I dumped this guy I started dating? We barely dated, but he doesn’t get that it’s over. He thinks we’re meant for each other or something.” She laughed at that last bit as she unceremoniously got on her hand and knees to retrieve the cat hiding under to coffee table. “Oh, there she is!”

She scooped up the cat and hugged her against her chest. “Everybody, this is Quake. Quake, this is . . . actually, I don’t know any of your names.”

And that was the exact moment when the other three realized that they hadn’t introduced themselves at all.

As it wasn’t her apartment, Jemma chose to do the polite thing and allow her hosts to go first. When both men allowed the room to be enveloped in an awkward silence, however, Jemma chose to do the often necessary thing, and took charge.

“Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Dr. Jemma Simmons.” She reached out her hand, and Skye shook it. “I live in the apartment directly above this one, and when I found this—your—cat on my doorstep, I really thought she lived here.” She paused to give Fitz a sidelong glance. “I guess I just assumed that the resident opera singer would also be a cat-owner.”

It wasn’t until Skye raised an eyebrow at her that Jemma saw the absurdity of her assumption. But then, why had he told her that it was his cat? It wasn’t until she quickly replayed their two previous conversations in her head that she realized that he hadn’t.

“Hi, I’m Trip,” said the roommate, offering his hand. “I’m the opera singer.”

Skye shook his hand and said, “You?” just at the moment Jemma realized that she asked the same question. But Skye was too interested in his chocolate eyes to notice.

“You, uh, you look so . . . _normal_ ,” she teased.

Trip chuckled, “Yeah, I get that a lot. You haven’t seen me in a tux, though. I look real good in a tux.”

“Yeah,” said Skye with a wink. “I bet you do.”

The tension between them became palpable, and ultimately too much for Fitz.

“And I’m, um, I’ve got to go.”

As his roommate dashed off in the general direction of the bathroom, Trip pointed after him.

“Fitz,” he explained.

All three of them looked at the hallway Fitz had disappeared into, then each other, and then the floor.

“Well,” Skye eventually said, “I better get back. My ex tried to break in a few days ago, and the door won’t shut right. Which would be fine, you know, if Quake didn’t try to escape in the mornings. It’s weird. She’s happy to stay in the room at night; it’s just in the morning that she tries to get out. Anyway, the super keeps saying he’ll fix it, but so far, he hasn’t shown.”

“Oh, Skye, that doesn’t seem safe,” protested Jemma.

“Yeah,” agreed Trip, “yeah, and uh, you know, I can take a look at it for you. And I can check on you at night, if you’re worried he might come back. I work late, anyway.”

Skye batted her eyelashes a few times before asking, “You would really do that?”

Trip shrugged. “For you? No problem.”

And before she knew it, the front door closed, and Jemma was in the apartment alone.

Well, Fitz was still there, somewhere. She wasn’t going to leave him there. So instead, she looked around for something, anything to help her, and ended up arming herself with a magazine she found in a pile of post.

“Fitz?”

She approached what she assumed to be the bathroom with caution, and when there was no answer to her knock, she sat down with her back at the door.

“I know you’re in there, Fitz. Fitz? That is your name, isn’t it?”

She was answered by groaning that emanated from the other side of the door.

“Simmons,” he said, “can’t you just leave a man to die of embarrassment in peace?”

Jemma scoffed. “I will do no such thing. And you can call me Jemma, if you like. Besides, you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I made you think I was an opera-singing cat-owner.”

That made Jemma’s smile return.

“Well,” she countered, “I was the one who made assumptions. And I probably didn’t give you a chance to correct me. Besides, you’re not the only one who’s been hiding things.”

She took in a breath, gathered her courage, and slid the magazine under the door. She listened as he opened the plastic, and closed her eyes as she prepared for the blow.

“You’re the one who brought down Hydra Tech?”

She found herself nodding before she realized that he couldn’t see her. “Yes,” she admitted. “A few months ago I found out that my boss, Dr. Whitehall, was employing some highly unethical practices. I’ve been collecting evidence against him for a while now.”

“You’re a whistleblower,” Fitz concluded.

“Well, no one was supposed to know that. I was promised anonymity.”

“And now you’re on the cover of _SciOps Monthly_.”

“Yes, exactly.” Jemma swallowed. “Someone must have leaked my identity. I’ll be blacklisted now. Whitehall will make sure that no one in the industry will hire me.”

“Yeah,” he said, and she could hear him flipping through the pages, “but you’re a hero.”

And that was the moment when Jemma started blushing, finding herself filled with a warmth that she couldn’t quite describe. On the other side of the door, Fitz was having an experience that was very much the same.

“Well, that’s kind of you to say. But I feel a little silly, telling you this while I’ve clearly been crushing on an unknown opera singer for months. I was thinking, though, that since you’ve locked yourself in the loo, maybe we could call it even?”

When the doorknob turned, Jemma leapt out of the way, but found that the open door revealed a Fitz who wouldn’t look her in the eye.

“If you,” he said, “um, if you fancy Trip, then I’d be, I mean, I could tell him.”

She took him in for a second, from his curly hair to his positively dreadful shoes. He was kind, gentle, funny, and smart, and she had a feeling that if she played her cards right, things might turn out for both of them.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that. Might be a little awkward for him when you take me out to dinner.”

To her delight, Fitz’s eyes snapped up to meet hers.

“Dinner?”

She shrugged. “If you like. And maybe while we’re waiting, I could show you my résumé?”

Fitz thought this was an excellent idea. And the next day, when he stood outside Jemma’s door to take her to brunch with Trip and Skye, he decided that mornings weren’t that bad, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Quake the cat was drawn by the wonderful [ruthedotcom](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ruthedotcom/pseuds/ruthedotcom)! Check out more of her artwork [here](http://omgfitzsimmons.tumblr.com/tagged/m*)! 
> 
> And you can check out more of [Agent 85](http://archiveofourown.org/users/agent85/pseuds/agent85)'s writing [here](https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/writings-of-agent-85)!
> 
> And a big thanks to [fitzsimmmonsy](http://fitzsimmmonsy.tumblr.com) for making [this companion gifset](http://fitzsimmmonsy.tumblr.com/post/128615428888/happy-birthday-lavendergaia-we-present-to-you)!
> 
> Can you find the lines that were borrowed from Jane Austen's _Emma_? Tell us in the comments!


End file.
